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Good morning! Hit the open receiver today. Inside:
Misery, Indexed: Let’s all join in football misery
At this point in the NFL season, two races matter most: the faithful sprint to playoff qualification/seeding and the yucky dash to the draft’s No. 1 pick.
Yesterday’s schedule was most consequential on both fronts, and instead of simply highlighting the winners like some simpletons, we will instead honor how miserable each loser’s fan base is heading into the final week of the season. How nice of us.
Here goes the Week 17 Misery Index:
5. Bears fans
What a game, right? To be clear, Chicago fans should feel no misery, even after last night’s thrilling defeat in San Francisco. The Bears have already won the NFC North, something no one predicted coming into the season. Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson looked plenty up to the task of a playoff environment last night against a great team. The biggest loss: any shot at the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Misery meter: 😐
4. Panthers/Buccaneers fans
You’re both here because you inhabit the NFC South, where nothing makes sense and the laws of football physics do not apply. Tampa Bay is 7-9 after a loss to the Dolphins yesterday, its fourth straight. Carolina is 8-8 after a defeat against the Seahawks. Neither team appears to want to win the division, and every single team in the NFC South has a negative point differential. At least they play each other next week? Misery meter: 😖😖😖
3. Bills fans
Part of me wants to console the entire city of Buffalo. The Bills, with the Chiefs out of the way and the AFC messy enough to see a clear path to the Super Bowl, slogged through a miserable game against the Eagles yesterday and still ended up with a chance to win on a 2-point conversion as time ran out. Khalil Shakir was wide open in the end zone, too. Josh Allen, the reigning MVP, simply missed him. Is this a curse? Buffalo will make the postseason but gave way to the Patriots in the AFC East yesterday, ending a five-year Bills streak atop the division. Sigh. Misery meter: 😠😠😠😠😠
Mitchell Leff / Getty Images
2. Steelers fans
Mike DeFabo called Pittsburgh’s 13-6 loss to Cleveland yesterday one of the worst of the Mike Tomlin era, and he’s right. Cleveland isn’t good, and a win would’ve clinched the AFC North for the Steelers. Instead, they have to play the Ravens next week in a winner-takes-all game. Patience runs thin for whoever loses that game. Misery meter: 😡😡😡😡😡😡
1. Jets fans
Finally, we reach our apex. Or nadir, depending on how you look at it. The Jets are the worst of both worlds here: an embarrassment with no chance of earning the No. 1 pick. Yesterday’s blowout loss to Drake Maye and the Patriots was the low point of an extremely low year. Then the Raiders went and got spanked by the also lowly Giants to all but earn the top pick. Zack Rosenblatt wrote that there’s no way Jets owner Woody Johnson is OK with this. Hard to imagine a worse situation in the NFL than this one. Misery meter: 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
We missed a ton of stuff, of course. See our full Week 17 takeaways here. And don’t forget to poke around the playoff predictor, too.
Let’s keep moving:
News to Know
Brown ties Bird
Jaylen Brown scored 37 points last night, marking his ninth straight game with at least 30 points. The only other player to do that in Celtics history is none other than Larry Bird, who now shares the franchise record. It somehow came in a loss, but Boston remains a marvel this season anyway, 19-12 with Jayson Tatum out indefinitely. Brown can pass Bird tonight. More historic details here.
Also scoring big last night: Kawhi Leonard, whose 55 points tied a Clippers record.
Falcons want Ryan back
And no, not as quarterback, though the sprightly Matt Ryan is four years younger than current NFL starter Philip Rivers. Sources told The Athletic the Falcons have talked to the franchise legend about a role in their front office, though it’s unclear what role it may be. Maybe related: Current general manager Terry Fontenot’s job status isn’t secure. Read our full story.
More news
- Mikaela Shiffrin won her sixth straight slalom World Cup title. It wasn’t easy.
- Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado and Suns center Mark Williams both received suspensions for their tussle Saturday night: Alvarado will sit two games, Williams just one. More details here.
- New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham said he had “no hesitation” about taking the Wolverines job despite the turmoil that preceded him. Read his full comments.
- Starting pitcher Zach Eflin is back with the Orioles on a one-year deal.
What to Watch
📺 NBA: Cavaliers at Spurs
8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
I’m watching San Antonio (23-8) any chance I get, and this is also a good opportunity to watch the Cavs (17-16), who’ve endured a strange year thus far. A team we thought would contend for the conference title is in the Play-In right now.
📺 NFL: Rams at Falcons
8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN
Despite being what many think is the best team in the NFL, L.A. (11-4) has to win this game to keep any realistic hope alive about winning its own division. Tough. Atlanta (6-9) has won two straight, too. Good game.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
Can the NBA’s new proposals fix tanking? Is it even a big issue anymore? I really enjoyed this discussion on the topic from Eric Koreen, Mike Vorkunov and Tony Jones.
Jayson Stark’s series returns with the best games of the 2025 MLB season. It’s easy to forget some of these with such a long year. I loved this.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy could be an NFL head coach again next season. Dan Pompei wrote a great feature about all the things Nagy would do differently this time around.
Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka played what could’ve been an entertaining “Battle of the Sexes.” Instead, as James Hansen writes, it was a farce.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The NFL playoff picture. Relevant.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Bears-49ers live blog. Worthy.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.